"Elitism"

Ross A. Finlayson (RAF@tomco.net)
Mon, 22 Mar 1999 15:50:09 -0500

Hello,

I have been reading some of this talk about life-extending technologies and technological consciousness assimilation, and just wanted to note that the approach that some are "elite" and "deserve" such "beneficial" things would probably be the subject of a new-day French-style Revolution and lead to many being "bloodily decapitated".

The Internet among other things has "levelled the playing field" in some regards, that is to say, it has razed many "artificial" or other barriers.

It is frustrating to be intelligent to the point where things that are readily apparent to oneself and peers are not to the general personae. Claiming "elitism" is a pedantic measure that is not auto-honest.

Instead of trying to separate, a more positive approach is to think in terms of lifting everyone.

In the framework of "machine consciousness" and some future ability to translate biological thought processes to such a context, there is a difference between interfacing to such a machine consiousness and surrendering your entirety to it. Personally, I would not choose to have my consciousness or a copy of it irreparably mated to a universal
"machine consciousness", but the idea of interfacing with it
productively is certainly a good one.

Things sure have changed in the century, perhaps even more so in the last twenty-five years, which is all I have been alive to see, but as the old French saying goes: "plus ça change, plus ça meme chose."

Ross

--
Ross Andrew Finlayson
202/387-8208
http://www.tomco.net/~raf/

"C is the speed of light."